Spotify’s Video-Podcast Surge

For the past three years, Spotify has been trying to beef up its video podcasts as it tries to keep up with the TikTok-driven explosion in short-form video. The efforts are starting to show some progress. The music streaming service now hosts more than 100,000 podcast shows that publish video episodes, a 40% increase from March though still a sliver of its 5 million total shows, according to new data from Spotify.

Reflecting its interest in video, the media streaming site has been inking deals with creators that highlight their videos on the app. Starting earlier this month, Emma Chamberlain’s “Anything Goes” podcast has been distributed across several platforms as an audio-only show, but its video podcasts are exclusive to Spotify. The company also recently tapped YouTuber Markiplier to exclusively host the video episodes of his podcast on its platform.